Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Video game aesthetics'

This thesis examines early videogames in relation to a number of current and emerging topics in videogame aesthetics.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Arts Media and Culture
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

The videogame now occupies a unique territory in contemporary culture that offers a new perspective on conceptions of high and low art. While the fear that the majority of videogames 'pacify' their audience in an Adornian "culture industry" is not without justification, its reductionism can be countered by a recognition of the diversity and aesthetic potential of the medium. This has been proposed by sociologist, Graeme Kirkpatrick, although without close attention to the role of music. Videogame music often operates in similar ways to music in other mixed-media scenarios, such as film, or opera. In the same way that film music cannot be completely divorced from film, videogame music is contingent on and a crucial part of the videogame aesthetic. However, the interactive nature of the medium - its différance - has naturally led to the development of nonlinear musical systems that tailor music in real time to the game's dynamically changing dramatic action. Musical non-linearity points beyond both music and videogames (and their respective discourses) toward broader issues pertinent to contemporary musicology and critical thinking, not least to matters concerning high modernism (traditionally conceived of as resistant to mass culture). Such issues include Barthes's "death of the author", the significance of order/disorder as a formal spectrum, and postmodern conceptions and experiences of temporality. I argue that in this sense the videogame medium - and its music - warrants attention as a unique but not sui generis aesthetic experience. Precedent can be found for many of the formal ideas employed in such systems in certain aspects of avant-garde art, and especially in the aleatoric music prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. This thesis explores this paradox by considering videogames as both high and low, and, more significantly, I argue that the aesthetics of videogame music draw attention to the centrality of "play" in all cultural objects.

Since the birth of the New Hollywood blockbuster out of the Hollywood Renaissance in the 1970s, popular moving image media has continually exhibited an intense interest in play with Newtonian physics and tactile, immediate experience. As the entertainment industry has moved further away from analog and celluloid and deeper into a digital media space, we have begun to see new a new breed of media project that differently engages with our sensorium in order to newly use (and abuse) this interest. I term this digital media project “corporealized media.” Corporealized media, as I define it, refers to media that includes, but is not limited to, the current undertaking in virtual reality technology and other media that has the primary focus of calling attention to or recognizing the user’s physicality, corporeal form, and embodiment. Through phenomenological readings of contemporary corporealized works, I suggest that current popular use of corporealized media is potentially dangerous and inhibiting to society. It has the ability not just to inform aesthetics, but also to shape our greater understanding of our potential connections to others. Instead of embracing physical contraction, we should aim to collectively accept the possible expansion that abstraction in media allows.

Thesis advisor: Eileen Sweeney
This paper combines principles from aesthetic cognitivism with phenomenological embodiment as explained by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in order to construct both an argument for video games as a form of art as well as a method for appreciating them. I argue that the unique status of video games as interactive fictions warrants an adjusted set of aesthetic criteria. My proposed method of examination involves the concept of "fictional embodiment" in which an appreciator imaginatively undergoes the experiences of the video game character. After establishing this framework the paper applies it to narrative and emotion in video games before moving on to extended examples
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: College Honors Program
Discipline: Philosophy

Videogame tinkerers, players, and activists of the 21st century are continuing, yet redefining, the avant-garde art and literary movements of the 20th century. Videogames are diverging as a social, cultural, and digital medium. They are used as political instruments, artistic experiments, social catalysts, and personal means of expression. A diverse field of games and technocultural play, such as alternate reality games, griefer attacks, arcade sculptures, and so on, can be compared and contrasted to the avant-garde, such as contemporary tactical media, net art, video art, Fluxus, the Situationists, the work of Pollock or Brecht, Dada, or the Russian Formalists. For example, historical avant-garde painters played with perspectival space (and its traditions), rather than only within those grid-like spaces. This is similar in some ways to how game artists play with flow (and player expectations of it), rather than advancing flow as the popular and academic ideal. Videogames are not only an advanced product of technoculture, but are the space in which technoculture conventionalizes play. This makes them a fascinating site to unwork and rethink the protocols and rituals that rule technoculture. It is the audacity of imagining certain videogames as avant-garde (from the perspective of mainstream consumers and art academics alike) that makes them a good candidate for this critical experiment.

During its first decade, Game Studies debate mainly revolved around the juxtaposition between two perspectives: the one of ludology and the one of narratology, each positing a primary quality of video games against the other. The study of the relationship between cinema and video games got somehow caught in the crossfire between these two fields. In this work, I investigate the extent to which representation in video games is connected to cinema and its representational codes. A number of authors before challenged this assumption, theorising models that only partially connect the cinematic form to video games. Such investigations have always started from the ludologically educated assumption that video games are different from cinema and, therefore, for the premises of this comparison to be considered “vitiated”, only tangentially useful due to the irreconcilably different nature of the two media. The adjective “cinematic” is a concept constantly evoked in cultural discourses concerning video games. Magazines, reviewers, critics, but also designers, artists, users and commentators (even scholars) often summon the idea of cinematic games in the attempt of describing some peculiar features that share affinities with films and suggesting that video games possess the aura of the big screen. Cinematic games are born at the crossroads between interactive movies and video games, for which the cinematic expression is retained by means of audiovisual representation while keeping the action in the hands of the player. Due to the vast scale of the subject, my work focuses on relatively recent developments in game design which have yet to be fully investigated, and seeks to extend existing attempts to apply the tools of film theory to Game Studies. A secondary value of this work is an annotation on the disengagement of moving image scholars with video games, and it partly serves as an invocation for this to change.

In this dissertation, I make a serious philosophic application of several aesthetic theories to the emerging medium of video games. I look at concepts such as the play of art, psychical distancing, and an experience, and apply each of these to a representative video game. Hence, I use a variety of aesthetic works, but apply these in a pluralistic manner. The thesis I defend is that a number of specific video games offer possibilities for aesthetic experience that can be comprehended through these traditional aesthetic theories. The purpose of my project is not a comparative one among these theories: I do not argue that any one of these is definitive in application to all video games. Instead, I hold these theories in tension by showing that each has practical merit in being applied to different games I use a variety of aesthetic approaches to argue that a specific game exemplifies the aesthetic value which is at the core of a particular theory. I apply John Dewey's notion of an experience as a single, distinctive whole consisting of parts in unity to the music-based game Rock Band. To consider the distance between the player of a video game and the game's content, I discuss Edward Bullough's theory of psychical distance and apply this concept to a violent game such as Grand Theft Auto IV. Finally, I consider Hans-Georg Gadamer's thoughts on the play of art and the connection of play to seriousness and apply these thoughts to a game which integrates a sense of playfulness with serious themes: Braid.

In this paper, I argue that there are some video games which are art. I begin my paper by laying out several objections as to why video games could not be art. After laying out these objections, I present the theory of art I find most persuasive, Berys Gaut’s cluster concept of art. Because of the nature of Gaut’s cluster concept, I argue that video games, as a medium of expression, do not need to be defended as a whole. Rather, like all other media of expression, only certain works are worthy of the title art. I then introduce and defend several games as art. After, I return to the initial objections against video games and respond in light of my defended cases. I conclude that video games, as a medium of expression, are still growing, but every day there are more examples of video games as art.

Over the last decade, buying in-game content with real money has become a more common practice among players in order to unlock exclusive content in video games. Prior research has mainly focused on those functional digital items that provide an advantage to the buyer. This thesis aims to determine the underlying factors that influence video game players to purchase purely aesthetic virtual items.Prior studies on the field of video games, gaming business models and purchasing behaviour were reviewed and a theoretical framework focused on behavioural sciences, psychology and customer culture related theories was designed to interpret the results of a quantitative study. The popular FPS (First Person Shooter), Counter Strike Global Offensive was the selected game to carry out the study. A web-based questionnaire was distributed in various specialized online forums, providing a total of 1006 respondents. A linear regression was the selected method to test the formulated model. Results showed a strong influence of emotional and symbolic perceived values in the purchase intention of aesthetic virtual items, while gaming experience and enjoyment had a minor impact.

Há milhares de anos, as imagens visuais impactam significantemente o cotidiano do ser humano, caracterizando-se como um ótimo meio de comunicação e expressão. Com os avanços tecnológicos, evidenciam-se transformações significativas da linguagem visual, que se moldam aos novos contextos no qual se encontra. Os videogames, artefatos digitais amplamente difundidos na sociedade que permitem a imersão do usuário em ambientes lúdicos dotados de interatividade, são alvo de projetos estéticos cada vez mais sofisticados. Uma vez que utilizam linguagem predominantemente visual, tem-se como premissa que a imagem desempenha papel fundamental para que estes cumpram sua função adequadamente. Entretanto, as imagens em videogames nem sempre obedecem a um padrão de qualidade, carecendo de estudos e métodos que amparem seu desenvolvimento e compreensão. Com isso, o presente estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver um método para análise da imagem visual em videogames, considerando a ampla gama de funções que a mesma exerce em artefatos dessa natureza. Para isso, a fim de permitir o desenvolvimento do método e garantir sua replicabilidade, foram definidos determinados procedimentos metodológicos, que envolvem: a realização e avaliação de um primeiro modelo do método; desenvolvimento de um segundo modelo; coleta e análise de dados envolvendo sujeitos de pesquisa especialistas na área; e o desenvolvimento de um modelo final. Como resultados, pode-se perceber que a análise de imagens visuais em videogames pode ser realizada a partir de um método sistemático, todavia, foram apontadas inúmeras ressalvas e considerações a respeito de como o método pode tornar-se mais eficiente.
For thousands of years, the visual images significantly affect the daily life of the human being, characterized as a great means of communication and expression. With technological advances, are evident the significant changes in visual language, which are molded to the new contexts in which it is. Video games, digital artifacts widespread in society that allow the user's immersion in playful environments with interactivity. They are subject to increasingly sophisticated aesthetic designs. Once they predominantly use visual language, there is a premise that the image plays a key role for them to fulfill their function properly. However, images in video games does not always follow a standard of quality, lacking studies and methods that help its development and understanding. Thus, this study aims to develop a method for the analysis of visual image in video games, considering the wide range of functions that it carries on such artifacts. For this, in order to allow the development of the method and ensuring their replication, were defined certain methodological procedures that involve: implementation and evaluation of a first model of the method; development of a second model; collection and analysis of data involving research subjects experts in the field; and the development of the final model. As a result, it can be perceived that the analysis of visual images in videogames can be performed from a systematic method, however, were identified numerous considerations about how the method can become more efficient.

In this essay results are developed on two different levels. First, it is shown in demonstration that a phenomenological analysis on the lines of Roman’s Ingarden’s study of works in literature can be applied to Virtual Reality works, such as professional-simulators and video-games. In particular it can then be pointed out that: i) sound is separable from the scene, but using sound VR becomes enriched; ii) the main role in literature is left for the imagination, while in VR we find richness in concretization.

Second, it is argued in discussion that works in VR can be qualified as works of art. These electronic works may have all the aesthetical qualities (based on the phenomenology of Roman Ingarden) of the works of art in the traditional sense. So, that paper has two objectives: an analysis of VR and the search for the status of VR in art.

L’approche pluridisciplinaire de cette thèse a pour objet principal la définition et l’évaluation du concept de « cyberérotisme ». L’évocation de cette notion est d’une prégnance telle au sein de la représentation du « corps virtuel » qu’il semble désormais possible de la considérer comme la figure emblématique des rapports au corps qui émergent dans le champ contemporain. Notre méthode, alliant esthétique, études culturelles et psychanalyse, s’établit en trois temps. Il s’agit tout d’abord d’élaborer une base de données afin de mettre en évidence l’appréhension conceptuelle qui va nous permettre de composer une première grille de lecture ; pour ce faire, nous établissons un corpus des films consacrés qui témoignent d’une approche spontanée du sujet, principalement eXistenZ, Demonlover, The Cell et Le Cobaye. Une seconde base de données est constituée à partir de l’observation des jeux vidéo, notamment les jeux pornographiques et hentai, afin de cerner les conditions de l’expérience dans son accomplissement actuel. Enfin, la rémanence des thèmes de la violence, du sadisme, de l’abandon du corps, de son renouvellement ou sa reconfiguration désignent finalement l’angoisse comme l’aspect central de l’expérience. C’est à partir de cette hypothèse de recherche que s’élabore, in fine, la dernière partie de cette thèse
The main purpose of this multidisciplinary research is to define and assess the concept of “cybereroticism”. This notion is of such significance in the « virtual body » representation that it now seems possible to consider it an emblematic figure of the way the body is implicated in the contemporary field. Our method, combining aesthetics, cultural studies and psychoanalysis, is set up in three steps. First of all, we will provide a database highlighting the conceptual framework, which will allow us to create the initial terms of reference. In order to achieve this, we will provide a corpus of serious movies reflecting a spontaneous approach of this topic, mainly eXistenZ, Demonlover, The Cell and The Lawmmower Man. A second database will be achieved by observing video games, including pornographic and hentai games, in order to identify the conditions of the experience in its current state. Lastly, we will demonstrate how the persistence of the themes of violence and sadism, as well as the abandon of the body, its renewal or its reconfiguration, refer ultimately to anguish as a key aspect of the experience. This research hypothesis will eventually represent the last part of this thesis

Cette thèse aborde les jeux vidéo par l’expérience qui en est faite et cherche à rendre compte de celle-ci par la construction d’un modèle théorique croisant deux traditions philosophiques distinctes : l’esthétique et la philosophie de la technique. Mettant en évidence l’existence de différents régimes d’expérience, ce travail entend prouver que lesdits régimes (nommés jeu fermé, jeu ouvert et beau jeu) sont chacun sources d’un plaisir spécifique qui trouvent son expression dans un jugement d’appréciation sensible. Or, parmi ces expériences, certaines, à cause de leur caractère ludique même, orientent le joueur vers le développement d’un savoir-faire technique et requièrent des dynamiques attentionnelles différentes de celles d’une expérience esthétique. Prenant alors appui sur une définition technique des jeux et du jouer, cette thèse montre qu’il existe un régime technique d’appréciation de la beauté proche, mais distinct, du régime esthétique. Elle entend ainsi montrer que les jeux vidéo sont un objet privilégié pour donner accès à cette beauté technique, tout en développant, en même temps, des spécificités esthétiques originales
This PhD thesis approaches videogames through the lense of player experience and aims to build a theoretical model that draws on two distinct philosophical traditions : aesthetics and philosophy of technology. It aims to prove both the existence of different regimes for experiencing games (namely closed play, open play and beautiful play) and that from each of these regimes stems a specific kind of sensible pleasure, expressed by an appreciative sensible judgement. Among these experiences, some are particularily defined by their ludic aspect. They lead the player to develop technical skills and henceforth require attentional dynamics which differ greatly from those implied by aesthetic experience. Relying on a technical definition of both game and play, this work shows that a technical regime of feeling and judging beauty exists which is close to the aesthetic regime and yet remains distinct from it. This thesis thus considers video games as a privileged means to reach this technical beauty and as one that develops aesthetic properties of their own

Denna undersökning diskuterar virtual reality (VR) spel i förhållande till lärande och underhållning. Gestaltningen kommer ske genom det existerande spelet GROW’em från företaget Okay Games där vi undersökte effekten av virtual reality på lärande i just spel. Målet är att förse spelaren med engagerande uppgifter för att sköta ett växthus tillsammans med lekfulla VR-interaktioner och möjligheten att kunna påverka den egna omgivningen. Syftet är att spelaren ska lära sig om genuin flora och kanske en dag framöver byta ut sin virtuella växt till en riktig planta. Med denna undersökningen vill vi lyfta fram spel och virtual reality som ett verktyg för lärande, där kroppens del i lärandet syftar på hur inlärning sker genom ens handlingar.
This study discusses virtual reality (VR) games in relation to learning and entertainment. The digital portrayal will take place through the existing game GROW’em from the company Okay Games, where we examined how the effect on learning in a virtual reality game. The goal is to provide the player with engaging tasks in order to manage their greenhouse together with playful VR-interactions and the ability to influence their own environment. The purpose is for the player to learn about genuine flora and maybe one day replace their virtual plant with an actual plant. With this study we want to highlight games and virtual reality as a tool for learning, where the body's part in learning refers to how learning takes place through one's actions.

Video game studies pertaining to representations of gender, race, culture, and sexuality are commonly discussed in relation to the characters, narrative, or gameplay mechanics. Video game environments are often left out of these discussions as most publications focus on how the environment was created and environmental storytelling. In this pilot study the researcher had participants analyze and discuss three futuristic, dystopian environments that contained alternative ways of representing gender, race, culture, and sexuality. The environments did not have gameplay or character interactions so that the player could focus on the environment. Results indicated that futuristic dystopian environments do not need to rely on stereotypes and harmful depictions to evoke core themes, even if they relate to violence, sex, oppression, or addiction. However, a lack of representation or a “neutral” take on representating gender, race, sexuality, and culture results in world that feels bland, isolated, and unnatural. Additionally, while participants disagreed on certain representations or noticed different aspects of the environments, the researcher found that focusing on “playtesting” just the environment can reveal how certain values, themes, and representations arise out of prop repetition, prop juxtaposition, and even how the player moves physically through the space.

Cette thèse examine en profondeur la nature et l’application du concept de genre en jeu vidéo. Elle se divise en trois parties. La première fait l’inventaire des théories des genres en littérature et en études cinématographiques. Les propriétés essentielles du genre comme concept sont identifiées : il s’agit d’une catégorisation intuitive et irraisonnée, de nature discursive, qui découle d’un consensus culturel commun plutôt que de systèmes théoriques, et qui repose sur les notions de tradition, d’innovation et d’hybridité. Dans la deuxième partie, ces constats sont appliqués au cas du genre vidéoludique. Quelques typologies sont décortiquées pour montrer l’impossibilité d’une classification autoritaire. Un modèle du développement des genres est avancé, lequel s’appuie sur trois modalités : l’imitation, la réitération et l’innovation. Par l’examen de l’histoire du genre du first-person shooter, la conception traditionnelle du genre vidéoludique basée sur des mécanismes formels est remplacée par une nouvelle définition centrée sur l’expérience du joueur. La troisième partie développe l’expérience comme concept théorique et la place au centre d’une nouvelle conception du genre, la pragmatique des effets génériques. Dans cette optique, tout objet est une suite d’amorces génériques, d’effets en puissance qui peuvent se réaliser pourvu que le joueur dispose des compétences génériques nécessaires pour les reconnaître. Cette nouvelle approche est démontrée à travers une étude approfondie d’un genre vidéoludique : le survival horror. Cette étude de cas témoigne de l’applicabilité plus large de la pragmatique des effets génériques, et de la récursivité des questions de genre entre le jeu vidéo, la littérature et le cinéma.
This thesis provides an in-depth examination of the nature and application of the concept of genre for the video game. It is divided in three parts. Part one features an overview of genre theory in literature and film studies. The essential properties of genre as a concept are identified: it is an intuitive and “thumbnail” classification method, discursive rather than systemic in nature, and that owes its existence to a common cultural consensus rather than theoretical divisions. More importantly, the notions of tradition, innovation and hybridity are found to be central to genre. In part two, these findings are applied to the case of video game genre. A few typologies are examined to show that authoritative classifications are impossible. A model of the development of genres is laid out, based on three modalities: imitation, reiteration and innovation. By studying the history of the first-person shooter, the traditional conception of genre being based on formal mechanics is replaced by a new definition centered on player experience. Part three details experience as a theoretical concept and places it at the center of a new conception of genre, the pragmatics of generic effects. In this view, any object is a matrix of generic anchors bound to become generic effects, provided the player possesses the generic competences required to recognize them. This new approach is demonstrated through an examination of the survival-horror videogame genre. This case study showcases the potential of the pragmatics of generic effects for other fields, and provides a testimony for the recursion of the questions of genre between the video game, literature, and film.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de réfléchir aux enjeux d’une histoire du jeu de stratégie en temps réel (STR). Il s’agit de mieux comprendre les contextes dans lesquels le genre prend sens pour historiciser son émergence et sa période classique. Cette thèse cherche à documenter, d’une part, la cristallisation du STR en tant qu’objet ayant une forme relativement stable et en tant que corpus précis et identifié et, d’autre part, l’émergence des formes de jouabilité classiques des STR. La première partie est consacrée à décrire l’objet de cette recherche, pour mieux comprendre la complexité du terme « stratégie » et de la catégorisation « jeu de stratégie ». La seconde partie met en place la réflexion épistémologique en montrant comment on peut tenir compte de la jouabilité dans un travail historien. Elle définit le concept de paradigme de jouabilité en tant que formation discursive pour regrouper différents énoncés actionnels en une unité logique qui n’est pas nécessairement l’équivalent du genre. La troisième partie cartographie l’émergence du genre entre les wargames des années 1970 et les jeux en multijoueur de la décennie suivante. Deux paradigmes de jouabilité se distinguent pour former le STR classique : le paradigme de décryptage et le paradigme de prévision. La quatrième partie explique et contextualise le STR classique en montrant qu’il comporte ces deux paradigmes de jouabilité dans deux modes de jeu qui offrent des expériences fondamentalement différentes l’une de l’autre.
This thesis is a reflection on the stakes of a history of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The goal is to understand contexts in which RTS makes sense to historicize its emergence and its classical period. It seeks to document, on the one hand, the crystallization of RTS as an object having a relatively stable form and as a precise and identified corpus and, on the other hand, the emergence of classical RTS gameplay figures. The first part of this thesis describes the object of this research in order to understand the complexity of the words “strategy” and “strategy games.” The second part puts in place the epistemological thinking by showing how gameplay can be taken into account in a history of video games. It defines the gameplay paradigm concept as a discursive formation to regroup actional statements as a logical unit that is not necessarily equivalent to a genre. The third part maps the emergence of the genre from wargames in the 1970s to multiplayer games of the following decade. Two gameplay paradigms are distinguished and will form the classical RTS: the paradigm of decryption and the paradigm of prediction. The last part explains the role of classical RTS by showing how these two paradigms coexist as two different game modes that offer fundamentally different gameplay experiences.

Mémoire en jeu vidéo
Un survol des théories sur le point de vue et sur l’ocularisation au cinéma permet de constater que les recherches ont été bien menées dans ce champ d’étude. Or, le même bilan ne peut pas être fait en jeu vidéo. Le point de vue vidéoludique n’a pas été analysé et théorisé avec la même exhaustivité et le même approfondissement. Beaucoup de lacunes sont encore visibles et le but de ce mémoire est justement d’en cibler quelques-unes et de les combler. Cette recherche se penche ainsi sur les points de vue en jeu vidéo et plus précisément, sur ceux que l’on retrouve à l’intérieur des phases interactives (les cinématiques sont par exemple exclues) dans les oeuvres tridimensionnelles. Une typologie de l’ocularisation vidéoludique, c’est-à-dire une nouvelle catégorisation des différents types de visualisation, est présentée, décortiquée et exemplifiée tout au long de ce mémoire. Celle-ci est plus approfondie que celles déjà développées par le passé, car elle prend en compte une plus grande variété de caractéristiques : l’ancrage, le positionnement, la mobilité et le contrôle offert au joueur. Aussi, elle détaille l’impact des différents points de vue sur l’expérience de l’utilisateur en privilégiant deux axes : l’esthétique et la fonctionnalité. À terme, ce mémoire permet d’instaurer une théorie de l’ocularisation plus aboutie dans les études vidéoludiques.
An overview of the theories on the point of view and on the ocularization in cinema shows that the researches were well conducted in this field of study. However, the same report cannot be done in video game. The notion of point of view has not been analyzed and theorized with the same exhaustiveness and deepening. Many gaps are still visible and the purpose of this thesis is to target some of them and to fill them. This research thus examines the points of view in video games and more specifically, those that are found within the interactive phases (cutscenes are for example excluded) in three-dimensional games. A typology of ocularization, that is to say a new categorization of the different types of visualization, is presented, analyzed and exemplified throughout this thesis. This one goes into deeper details than those already developed in the past, because it takes into account a greater variety of characteristics: anchor, positioning, mobility and control available to the player. Also, it details the impact of the various points of view on the user’s experience by focusing on two axes: aesthetic and functionality. Ultimately, this thesis allows establishing a more elaborate theory on ocularization in video game studies.

Cette étude s’intéresse à l’évolution formelle du jeu d’aventure de 1976 à 1999. Elle se propose de mieux comprendre les facteurs historiques contribuant à l’apparition du genre, son institution et ses transformations. La recherche est fondée sur l’analyse du discours de la presse spécialisée en jeux d’ordinateur et d’un corpus étendu d’œuvres. L’une des thèses proposées est que l’identité générique du jeu d’aventure est fondée sur une expérience vidéoludique demeurant relativement constante malgré des variations importantes de formes. Cette expérience est assurée par la reproduction des principaux éléments d’une architecture générale de design de jeu inaugurée par Adventure en 1977. Les variations formelles ponctuelles résultent d’une négociation entre la volonté de s’adapter aux changements de contexte de l’écologie du jeu d’ordinateur et la résistance d’une architecture ludique établie. La pertinence d’une histoire d’un genre vidéoludique est justifiée au premier chapitre en fonction de l’état actuel des connaissances sur l’histoire du jeu vidéo et du jeu d’aventure. On y précise également le cadre théorique, la méthodologie et les sources étudiées. Le deuxième chapitre s’intéresse à la genèse d’Adventure de Crowther et Woods (1976; 1977) en fonction des diverses pratiques culturelles dans lesquelles l’œuvre s’inscrit. Cette analyse permet d’en dégager l’architecture ludique. Le troisième chapitre porte sur le « tournant narratif » du jeu d’aventure ayant lieu au début des années 1980. On y décrit différents facteurs historiques poussant le genre vers l’enchâssement d’histoires pré-écrites afin d’en faire un véhicule narratif. Le quatrième chapitre décrit le contexte du « tournant graphique », passage du jeu d’aventure d’une représentation textuelle à un régime visuel, ainsi que ses conséquences expérientielles. Le « tournant ergonomique » décrit au cinquième chapitre traite de l’apparition du modèle « pointer et cliquer » en fonction des avancées des connaissances concernant les interactions humain-machine ainsi que de la maturation du design de jeu comme pratique autonome. Le dernier chapitre relate l’apogée du jeu d’aventure au début de la révolution multimédia sous ses formes de film interactif et « Myst-like » puis du ralentissement – voire de l’arrêt – de son évolution formelle.
This dissertation examines the formal evolution of adventure games from 1976 to 1999. It aims at understanding the genre’s emergence, its institution and transformations. The research is based on the parallel analysis of computer game magazine discourse and a large corpus of games. One of its main theses is that adventure games’ generic identity is founded on a relatively stable gameplay experience despite important formal variations. This experience is maintained by the reproduction of a general game design architecture initiated by Adventure in 1977. Specific historical models of the adventure game are the product of a negociation between developers’ efforts to adapt to changes in computer game ecology and the resistance of an established ludic architecture. In the first chapter, the research project is justified considering the current state of knowledge pertaining to digital game history in general and adventure games in particular. The theoretical framework, methodology and source materials are also detailed. The second chapter offers a fresh look at Crowther and Woods’Adventure (1976; 1977) in terms of the network of cultural practices in which it was developed. This analysis helps mapping the outlines of the game’s videoludic architecture. The third chapter describes the genre’s « narrative turn » taking place in the early 1980s. It describes the various historical factors pushing the genre as a narrative vehicle by embedding structured pre-written stories. The context of adventure games’ transition from a textual to a visual representation – and its experiential consequences – is the subject of the fourth chapter on the genre’s « graphical turn ». The « ergonomical turn » described in the fifth chapter relates the institution of the « point & click » model to contemporary advances in human-computer interaction as well as to the maturation of video game design as an autonomous practice. The last chapter gives an account of adventure games’ heyday on the onset of the multimedia revolution through the interactive film and “Myst-like” forms, followed by the slowdown – or even standstill – of its formal evolution.

Ce mémoire propose une réflexion sur des modèles permettant de mieux comprendre et concevoir l’expérience esthétique d’un jeu vidéo. Ces modèles traduisent différents idéaux de la place du joueur. Comme on peut le constater à travers une réflexion sur le modèle du cercle magique, jouer est souvent compris comme un acte unilatéral d’entrée en imagination dans un monde étranger au monde actuel – toute sortie marquant la pénalité ou la fin du jeu. De ce point de vue, le designer aurait donc pour rôle de placer et de maintenir le joueur dans le monde virtuel représenté pour qu’il s’y sente immergé et présent. Cela dit, comme en témoignent les critiques qui s’élèvent contre le modèle du cercle magique, d’autres stratégies de mise en place du joueur sont à distinguer et à définir pour faciliter l’analyse et la conception des jeux vidéo. Devant ce modèle, jugé limitatif, ce que nous proposons ici est de recourir à quelques outils méthodologiques et typologiques de l’esthétique de la réception en histoire de l’art pour bâtir un modèle plus englobant, celui de la place du joueur, dont nous testons la validité par l’analyse du jeu vidéo God of War III (2010).
This thesis proposes a consideration of models that allow one to better understand and develop the aesthetic experience of a video game. Such models reflect different ideals of the player’s position. Since we approach it through a reflection on the model of the “magic circle”, play is often understood to be a unilateral act of entering, via the imagination a world foreign to the real world - where any penalty or exit marks the end of the game. Looked at this way, the designer’s role is therefore to place and maintain the player in the virtual world, making him feel immersed and present therein. However, as evidenced by those critics who speak out against the model of the magic circle, other strategies to put the player in place need to be distinguished and defined in order to facilitate the analysis and design of video games. Given this model, deemed to be restrictive, what we propose is to use some typological and methodological tools of reception aesthetics in art history in order to build a more inclusive model of the "player's place", the validity of which is tested by analysing the video game God of War III (2010).